v8 v-fusion. vegetable nutrition they need, fruit taste they love. could've had a v8. or...try kids boxes! good morning. right now, the push is on to get a deal. but consider this. congress has just ten legislative days before going off the cliff, but the president and speaker boehner have not met in 13 days and a reported phone call yesterday was described as curt. tim geithner is about to meet with each leader this morning to talk about the fiscal cliff or slope or curve. but whatever you call it, politico's front page headline reads, fiscal cliff deal emerging. it hashes out the flame woframe agreement including $400 billion in cuts to entitlements. but how close are they really?

depends on who you ask. >> what's going on between the decision makers is little to nothing. >> you can actually now see what the contours of the deal look like. >> i'm optimistic that we can continue to work together to overt this crisis and sooner rather than later. >> we will not negotiate the end of medicare. i don't know what it is with these republicans. >> it's safer if you're on the progressive end of the political spectrum to go over the fiscal cliff than it is to agree to some of the things they're talking about. >> ruth, where do you stand, deal or no deal? >> not who deal, but who are more pessimistic. the clock is really ticking. about ten legislative days left in the year. outlines are there but the willingness to do it and the

ability to get it done in time, i'm more disappointed than i thought i would be at this point. on the other hand, this is the moment of posturing. so it could all come together at the last moment. a christmas present. >> there has been plenty of that. tim geithner, he's going out to talk to these leaders. what does he say, for example, in these meetings with reed and t reid and the other leaders? >> opening line is it's dangerous to get over the cliff so let's get there. my reporters tell me there are contours to a deal. the senate democrats moving a little on entitlements. a day after dick durbin number two democrat said we shouldn't talk about entitlements in the fiscal cliff deal. i'm hearing from senate leadership aides who are saying it's the republicans' job to put entitlements on the table.

we don't want to negotiate with ourselves. we don't want to put both tax increases and entitlement cuts on the table. it's up to republicans and we'll come back with a counter. you can't force us to put an opening bid on entitlement cuts when we don't want any to begin with. and that's the movement. so i think even in public there's starting to be a little bit of moving and i think there is the ability for folks to get there. >> we do know pretty clearly i think that the white house thinks they have the upper hand. here is the president from his event yesterday. >> today i'm asking congress to listen to the people who sent us here to serve. i'm asking americans all across the country to make your voice heard. tell members of congress what a $2,000 tax hike would mean to you. >> so he's got his outreach to middle class americans. we saw him meeting with business

leaders. his event is planned for tomorrow. we campaign-like and he is still using the campaign actually, more than a million people responded to that survey that obama for america put out and said they're interested in volunteering. so is part of what the president is feeling the security he's feeling about getting a deal done the way he wants to get it done from we the people? >> either security or arrogance depending on your perspective. the campaign never ends. and the question and i do think it's a question is whether the sort of get the public to weigh in here is more effective than get in the back room and cut the deal. i would say one of the things that's very different about this negotiation than, say, the debt ceiling negotiation is, first of all, there has been an election as the president is kind of the first one to remind people. and number two, though, i think secretary geithner does not think going over the cliff is a

good idea, i think that he, the white house, the president, are way more willing to take that risk of going over at least for a few weeks than they were in confronting the debt ceiling where they felt that their leverage in negotiating space was much more constrained. so that's why you're seeing a hardening to some extent of the position on the white house side. they did think they have the upper hand. >> stand by, i want to bring in chris van hollen. good to see you. >> great to see you. >> from what you're hearing, are you close to a deal? >> we're not close to a deal. everyone's continuing to work very hard to get a deal. the president and secretary geithner reaching out to capitol hill as the president is reaching out to the country. >> let's talk about some of the numbers. politico reporting $1.2 trillion in tax increases. $400 billion in entitlement cuts. mostly from medicare. another $1.2 trillion in

spending cuts and war savings. does that soiund like it's in te ballpark to you? >> i think it's too early to say what's in the ballpark. the overall question you're asking is how much will come from revenue, how much will come from cuts. there's been no agreement reached on that yet. and you have to fill in the details. >> let's talk about one of the things that is getting conversation today. if the republicans give on raising taxes, and we know that skr john boehner and a lot of republicans have said they don't want to raise taxes on people making over $250,000 a year. but if they're willing to do that, they will certainly want something significantment in terms of entitlements. but the deal that's being talked about would delay the cuts for 10 to 20 years. do you think they would buy that is th is this. >> i think the detail we're talking about is not something we've gotten into yet.

the president has in his own budget that he's proposedoff $300 billion in health savings. but democrats don't want to simply transfer rising health care costs on to the backs of seniors. that's what the republican proposals would do. what we want to do is lower the over all costs within the system. the president has a number of proposals to do exactly that. and so that's been the big difference. the difference republicans again saying they want to pass the bill on to senior citizens. democrats looking for ways to reduce costs in the system overall. >> would you be in favor of raising the eligible age for medicare, for example? >> i don't think that's a good policy. that's another example of simply transferring existing costs on to the backs of seniors. so that doesn't reduce overall health care costs which is what we should be focused on, what cl is what we did in the affordable care act and we should build on that. but that's an example of simply

passing on a cost leaving a lot of people between the ages of 65 and 67 uninsured. so we should be looking for alternative ways of doing it. shy add, chris, that another really important part of this conversation in addition to long term deficit reduction is making sure that we get sustained economic recovery. we saw some good numbers today, but we want to make sure that we sustain that recovery. and extending middle class text cuts is part of it, but so is investing in our infrastructure, so are other elements of the president's jobs plan that should be part of this overall agreement. >> we have seen several liberal democrats to say that it is better to go off that cliff than to get a bad deal. and i'm wondering if you agree because it seems like the ceos who came out of the meeting with the president yesterday were most worried or at least seriously worried about the effect of not getting a deal on time and the effect that will have on the economy. >> we absolutely want to avoid going over the fiscal cliff because it would be a big drag on the economy. >> but are you willing to do

that? >> what we're willing to do is come up with a package that both accelerates economic recovery, but also begins to reduce the long term deficit and the president's been very clear that that means asking higher income earn eaers to pay who are. more. so the real question is whether republicans will agree with tom cole who the other day said we should agree with the president. so let's get that done. let's not hold the middle class hostage to getting a bonus tax break for folks at the top. so it was great to hear tom come forward on that. obviously he's taken some heat within his caucus, but that would obviously avoid the fiscal cliff. >> congressman chriss van hollen, thanks so much. appreciate it. so he mentioned tom cole.

let me play what he had to say. >> the president is willing to accept 80% of the bush tax cuts for 9d 8% of the american peopl and make them permanent, we should do that and continue to fight for the things we believe in. >> so, chris, you know john boehner said tom cole is a friend of mine, but i disagree with what he had to say. chuck todd's analysis is that this could be great for boehner from a negotiating standpoint. does tom cole play into all this? >> he certainly does. what tom cole is thinking is leverage. and right now democrats have a lot of leverage. they can make the case to the american people that by being obstructionists, republicans are preventing a tax cut for everyone, including the middle class. and if republicans go along with the president on this, and they lose this small battle, then they will give up the tax increases on the wealthy, which they don't want, for a big tax

cut to the middle class. that takes one of the democrats' biggest talking points off the table going into next year and they can live to fight another day during tax reform to bring those rates down for the wealthy and continue that fight while most americans already are enjoying their tax cut. so while it seems like a concession, it could be a strategic move by republicans to be able to make themselves some room to come back next year in a much stronger negotiating position. sf >> i want to bring up the other big topic on capitol hill and that is susan rice and the republican opposition to her only seems to be growing. >> it's obvious that she chose to emphasize some aspects and down play others. and frankly, i think the u.n. ambassador along with the secretary of state should be above politics. >> i would just ask the

president to step back for a moment and realize that all of us here hold the secretary of state to a very different standard than most cabinet members. >> so i guess the question now is with this growing it seems opposition, does it make it less likely that she's going to get the nomination or is the white house going to even push for it harder? >> i think in some sense it's becoming a little bit a, pardon the phrase, test of manhood for the president. it's just extraordinary to see this kind of argumentation over somebody who has not yet been nominated. usually we wait for the nomination to have the argument about whether somebody should be confirmed. but the president clearly likes susan rice. i'm told that he wants her. there is a confidence on the part of senate democrats that she would be confirmed.

and frankly, at this point, how would the president look in terms of his strength and bargaining if he were to back town in t down in the face of the opposition? a lot of democrats are wondering whether this is worth the cost given all the other issues that the white house needs to address. but i guess i'm coming down on the side of more likely rather than less likely in terms of the nomination. >> and we haven't heard a peep from john kerry and apparently he's told people don't push for him. so interesting strategy there as well. chris, ruth, thank you both. also today, as the u.n. general assembly gets ready to vote on whether to upgrade palestine's status, israel says it would be a violation of their peace accords. mahmoud abbas submitted a resolution asking to be recognized as a nonmember state and it is likely to be approved with the support of several european countries. israel says it could respond by withholding money or security cooperation from the palestinian

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a week from today, marijuana whether become legal in the state of washington. voters in both washington and colorado voted to legalize the drug for rec reactireational us. the drug war was a key topic as well during president obama's meeting with the president elect of mexico earlier this week. a country that funnels massive amounts of illegal drugs in to the u.s. each year. a new article in new york magazine takes an in-depth look of the evolving would are on drugs. joining me is the author and military analyst and former drug czar. good to see both of you. good morning.

benjamin, absolutely a fascinating article. you point out that there has been a real change in people's opinions. these are the people who are in favor of recreational use. 50% now. it was 40% in 2009, 30% in 2000. clearly the pr war is being lost by people who oppose legalizing drugs. is the war on drugs lost, as well? >> well, there are two different things going on there. first on pot, which is the number that you're talking about, the more striking number for me is actually the funding that went into the campaign if washington which is the place where the legalization dam kind of broke. people who are for pot legalization put $6 million into campaigns there. people who are against put $16,000 in total. so i think that there is just very little energy in american life to uphold marijuana prohibition. the more complicated question

both in marijuana and when it comes to other drugs is if we're willing to declare the war on drugs not a success to say that something has failed, what are we doing instead. legalization is not really an option for harder drugs. and so the kind of questions that the president elect of mexico are confronting and that police commissioners are confronting in the united states are what is a kind of mored in earn way to take the war on drugs if we're willing to say that things have not worked so far, but we're not willing to radically legalize. >> general mccaffrey, there was a blue ribbon panel this summer that concluded that the war on drugs has failed, although they say with devastating consequences. to benjamin's point, is there a more modern way to fight this war? >> well, by the way, i congratulate him on his article. it's one of the more thoughtful things i've read in a spate of nonsense that has been

published. i'm out here in seattle where the state voted to legalize personal possession of small amounts of drugs. in conflict, the federal law and international trading. i spent a lot of time in behavioral health care chronic addiction. crc health group, nothing's al association of drug courts. i basically think it's a bad idea to have increasing use of drugs, schedule one drugs, to include marijuana, in the workplace, in the home, in the schools. so i think we're on unchartered ground. it's hard to know where this is going. 14 years in a row, we have reducing rates offed a less tent drug use. the last three years have gone up. i think ten years from now, we're not going to like where we are. >> well, let's talk about one thing that is very obvious and benjamin, we've reported a lot on this. and that's drug violence in mexico. and you point out that nearly 60,000 people in six years have

been killed in the drug wars in mexico and elsewhere. and disturbing employee thought you talk at the end of your article about the mexican mafia is operating in northern california. are there serious indications that they are and what are the chances we'll see more drug violence here in the u.s.? >> no, i don't think that there are of-that the mexican mafia is this a huge way involved in drug distribution at a local level inside the united states. i think one thing to keep in mind, the general talks about adolescent drug use numbers, but the numbers for overall drug use in particular for overall chronic drug use are down pretty dramatically over the last decade and a half. if you look at the numbers for cocaine, for example, according to the national household survey, we have half the number of chronic cocaine users that we did just six years ago. that's astonishing. so i think in the long run, what we're talking about is a market

for drugs in the united states, particularly hard drugs, that is diminishing. and i think what you will see and that what we've already seen in the long arc since the crack epidemic is a decline in the violence that accompanies that. now, south of the border is a little bit of a different question. one of the things we've seen with cartels in the last couple of years is that they are moving a little bit away from the drug traffic exclusively. so part of the problem in mexico and particularly in the central american states is that you have cartels getting in to extortion, kidnapping, sort of assuming the role of the government in places where the government's ability to secure the territory is not so strong. so for me the long run picture north of the border in the united states is pretty positive. the long run picture south of the border is more complicated. and i think a lot of what the president elect in mexico has been talking about has been that

imbalance. >> let me respond. >> go ahead, general. >> let me put a counter point on the table. the mexican mafia, the cartels are now the dominant organized crime in 230 u.s. cities. they probably are the dominant controlling authority in over 1,000 mexican municipalities. it's not whether they will come. they are here. so if you're in sacramento or washington or a lot of these places, that's who their wholesale distribution are. they won't get out of the distribution of marijuana in the state of washington, i can assure you. so we have to remember that. now, the local distribution of grug, i think benjamin is correct, the foot soldiers are gangs. they're recruited in american prisons. they're involved in the it is frid distribution. final notion, just put this on the table, we don't lock up people for smoking weed.

we don't arrest, prosecute and jail them. that's nonsense. you get locked up because you're involved in felony offenses, you're a chroniced a difficult, you're unemployed, you got stds, everybody hates you except your mother. chronic addiction has gone up, i might add, in the last three years. only now it's synthetic opiates. so what we say in the drug treatment field is we don't care what your addiction problem is, we're concerned about its impact on your physical health, your employment, your family relationships, you're breaking the law. that's the problem. >> i'd love to do an hour on this. it's fascinating. people should read benjamin's article. a great bit of reporting. general mccaffrey, always a pleasure to have your expertise. the frenzy over the largest power ball jackpot, it's over

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there are calls for john boehner to name women to the two committee chair postses in the new congress. that's because the other 19 committee chair slots were as you can see here all filled by men. it's been a hot topic among republican women on capitol hill. >> i wish we weren't having to address that issue. i would like to have thought that we could have had women chair men, but the fact that this is the kind of the way it has turned out, we have to continue to highlight the qualified women that are in our conference. >> let's bring in michael steele and kiki mcclain. good morning to both of you.

the current congress has 24 republican women, the new congress will have 19. and then all the committee chair positions as we said have gone to men. michael, the optics are not good. >> the optics stink. and you'd think given what we went through with women, about women, particularly with the gop, that this would have been raised within the leadership. >> mitt romney lost the women's vote by 11 points. >> having said that, a lot of the mind set just to give you back drop on this in the gop is we don't do sort of fill in the blank here just because we have a woman, put a woman this lays. it's very much senior based. it's very much time tenured and all of that. but there are senior members at the caucus who are female who can advance i think legitimately without question about their preparedness or readiness to do the job. this is an optic issue, but

easily resolved. figure those last two spots with capable women and have the noise go away. >> with a republicans are saying is that three women were named to leadership positions in the republican conference including washington's kathy mcmorris rogers who will become the fourth highest ranking member in the house. let me lay for you what tom davis said last night on hardball. >> only really had one woman this contention and that was candace miller. and i've been through these things. they're knife fights inside. but mcmorris rogers beat a very able man for leadership. so when the caucus was allowed to speak, they selected a woman. did you do buy that argument? >> kind of like saying i have a friend who is a girl. look, good for her because she did run a real race from what i understand and good for the caucus for supporting that, but this is kind of like when you have to tell your son to say thank you as opposed to knowing to do it on their own. owe ought to know better and

they ought to be proud of the women in their caucus and be willing to promote them. so the opticses stink, but they reflect what's really going on in that caucus and it will be a challenge. and you can say just name two and that will feel better and that will make it easier for michael and tom davis who are good guys to get through an interview. but it doesn't really reflect what's going on in that party and the reality is to michael's point you have a seniority issue and you're going to have a lot of obstacles and barriers to new young talent coming up and they have new young women talent and they ought to promote them. >> this is what bonnie goldstein wrote about those two positions. the only two chair than ships left to assign are the politically thankless house ethics committee chair and the administratively unrewarding hoist administration committee gavel. is she right about that, michael? >> yes. >> and do they need to do that? >> yes and yes.

and this is again one of those situations where instead of leading by example, using the strength of our bench that we do have those women that kiki referenced, we didn't. now even if you do make the two appointments, you'll put them in lesser positions. if furthers the negative their difference that has continued about the gop. look, there are two realities here. one easy, one hard. the easy stuff is to do the obvious and to get engaged and put the leadership out there. the hard is having the lil to do it. actually wanting to do it. and i think we demonstrate over and over again that we just are not willing to do it. p and that has to change. >> one more thing i want to point out. after six years you're automatically gone from the chairmanship. so they made an exception in the case of paul ryan, but not the one woman who chaired a committee. >> this is just dumb. it speaks to their judgment and it speaks to what michael said,

which is where their real heart is. it's funny, the ethics committee and administration committee are really important committees. but it is kind of easy to characterize it as saying they want one to be a mom and the other to be the house keeper. it's sort of speaks to the issue -- by the way, now you're going to do exactly what michael says you don't want to to. you didn't put a woman in a role just because she's a woman so you can check the box. there are qualified women who ought to have those roles based on their capacity and talent. >> thank you both very much. and you can watch this segment and in fact the rest of jansing and company on our new and improved home on the web. we are unveiling a revamped page today. bolder headlines, the latest news and best video from jansing and company and also a space for your comments. tell us what you think. also making news this morning, former cia chief david petraeus now says about his affair with paula broadwell, quote, i screwed up royally.

nbc news has learned that he said that in a letter to a colleague. he also said i paid the price appropriately and i south ght to the right thing at the end of the day. take a look at this heart warming picture. it's gone viral. a tourist snapped this shot of a police officer giving a new pair of boots to a barefoot homeless man on a cold night. the officer says after passing the man, he went to a nearby store and bought the boots. the picture has been viewed by almost 2 million people and it has more than 325,000 likes. wow. the office holiday party is making a comeback. mandy drury is here with what's moving your money. >> after years of belt tightening, apparently close to 83% of 100 human resources managers surveyed said their companies will host an event this year, including 10% who

didn't have a party last year because of the economy. admittedly these might be more modest affairs. think maybe a pot luck lunch, maybe just drinks after hours at the office. whatever. i think people are just happy to have something and get together, right? remember, though, there are a few things to do and not to do at these parties. apparently things like conversations about work, okay, but only in mod indication. leave the thigh high dress at home, think business casual. obviously don't get smashed, drunk. don't do anything like that and tell the boss what you really think of him. and sure, this is a sign of the times, take pictures, but ask before posting anythin online. >> just don't to it. mandy drury, thank you so much. starbucks has a new coffee, 7 bucks a cup. this next list should not have a problem paying for $7 coffee. this is the list of forbes highest paid musicians in the

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although there was no physical increase in saliva production. less than two hours from now, president obama and mitt romney will sit down together for a private lunch at the white house. and when we say private, we mean private. no other guests, no cameras allowed. though the white house is expected to release a photo afterwards. this will be the first opportunity the two have had to visit since the election. so what will they talk about? joining me now, national political rotter for the "boston globe" and contributor to the kudlow report. just to remind folks, take a listen to president obama during his first re-election press conference talking about mitt romney. >> he presented some ideas during the course of the campaign that i actually agree with. and so it would be interesting to talk to him about something like that. there may be ideas that he has with respect to jobs and growth

that can help middle class families that i want to hear. >> so this lunch today, is it just common courtesy or might he have something in mind for mitt romney? >> i think it's potential that he has something in mind that he wants mitt romney to do. it's very unlikely any type of formal position either in his cabinet or otherwise. i mean, both sides are sort of projecting they don't expect a whole lot of news to actually come out of this meeting which would mean it's more of a symbolic gesture, a time for these guys to get together privately. >> well, robert, an op-ed in the "washington post" says, obama should convene a presidential commission on national health costs to be chaired by romney and filled with leaders from every part of the sector plus other relevant experts. miller says the goal of will this commission would be to reduce health care costs. mitt romney saved the olympics. he's an accomplished businessman. do you see any chance anything like this would happen? >> i would not rule it out at all. mitt romney was a businessman for both of his career, but he got into politics running for

the senate and then president twice. because he really is committed to public service. his father george was the same way. a businessman who entered public service. and i think it's not surprising that romney is going to the quhous today. whenever i interviewed mitt romney, i was always struck that he never considered the fight against obama a personal one. it was about public service. >> really? it felt like it watching from the outside. >> i think the campaign was nasty, but the relations between romney and obama as gentlemen was never nasty on that level. >> so when you hear people say these guys didn't like each other, are they exaggerating? >> i do think it got somewhat personal toward the end between them. i mean, i don't think -- people describe them as somewhat similar. they're both somewhat intellectual. >> highly competitive. >> both of them. and you have this awkward situation, though, where romney lost. and he did seem a little bit

bitter about that in the days after the election. so you have to sort of wonder what the discussions will be like between obama and romney when they're in a private room together. >> wouldn't you love to be a fly on the wall. >> i would love to. and one thing that really is interesting to me is that for instance in 1992, there was a nasty campaign between bill clinton and george h.w. bush and no one would have predicted that two two dedecades on they would pretty close friends working on projects together. sometimes it's still acrimonious between former competitors, but it this relationship could being akin to that clinton/bush relationship. >> so let's say he doesn't have any public role in the sense of in this administration. matt, what do you think, what does he do next? >> a lot of people are

speculating sort of what he might did. it's hard to tell what mitt romney himself is thinking. right now he's enjoying kicking back. you saw photos of him pumping gas, not a generous photo by any stretch, but other photos of him riding roller coasters at disneyland. next who knows. but he is having an office and the office is in boston. so there have been speculation right after the election that he may sort of relocate for all intents and purposes to the west coast and to his house out there. so it does seem like he'll keep his ties in boston at least. >> good to see you gentlemen. thank you. today's tweet of the day mixes politics and power ball. i was suggesting earlier that a patriotic lottery winner could help bring down the deficit, but apparently not by much. "it would only take the government 80 minutes to spend the power ball jackpot. ." [ ding! ] ...and spend time on the slopes.

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so we've been talking a lot about the fiscal cliff and of course long term entitlement reforms. so we wanted to take a deeper look what the it might mean for medicare. 50 million senior citizens get health insurance coverage through medicare and that number is growing quickly. polls show most americans don't want big changes to medicare. but if change does come, what might it look like? richard lui is here. >> medicare is a very popular program. but according to reporting from nbc's tom costello, it's also more than 13% of all federal spending. and it's growing unsustainably. one cost cutting idea is to slowly raise the age limit to receive benefits. now it's 65. this is what retirement planners need to consider. let's say mr. and mrs. brown living on any street usa both turn 65 next year. they are unlikely to be affected and still can get medicare coverage. but if we walk next door, mr. and mrs. gonzalez could see a

change. they are 60 years old and under current proposals, they would wait to 65 plus several months on top of that. farther down the street, the changes could have a longer coverage gap to fill. they are a55 and could wait untl 66 or 67 or older. it could save money, but it just shifts costs to private insurance or employers in a less efficient way. >> we want to see improvements that actually lower health care costs, not simply change them, make seniors pay more for health care. >> now, one proposal could make seniors pay more simply if you make more, pay more. or what's called the means test. back to any street usa and mrs. graham. she makes less than $85,000. her monthly medicare premium is $115. her wealthier neighbors already pay up to $254 more per honesty because they make more than $58,000 a year. new changes could make them pay

even more. since nearly every senior is or will use medicare, these changes could affect tens of millions of people. >> what happens if we go off the fiscal cliff? >> it comes to the white coats, the doctors. that's one thing to watch here. because the doctors, the money they get from medicare, that could go down almost 30%. the result, fitch says medicare recipients would have even lower access to doctors, hospitals, and the industry overall would also see a severe negative effect as money coming into the industry, that goes down. this is the number of medicare recipients they expect to thk by some 20 million in the next decade. >> and we heard from chris van hollen, he is against raising the age of eligibility. so lots still to be decided. but thanks for helping us with that. that will wrap up this hour of jansing and company. thomas roberts is up next.

good morning, everybody. the agenda next hour, mitt on the menu. mr. romney goes to washington for lunch. can president obama and mitt romney bury the hatchet for the good of the country? we'll head to the white house for a live report on the president's lunch date with his former presidential rival. plus president obama deploys his top man at the treasury to capitol hill for marathon meetings with leaders of congress. but with the blame game kicking in to high gear, is there compromise to be had ahead. plus who took home those winning tickets to that $587 million power ball jackpot. kerry sanders is hot on the trail trying to help us track down the winners. one of which could be in missouri.

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[ male announcer ] it's that time of year again. medicare open enrollment. time to compare plans and costs. you don't have to make changes. but it never hurts to see if you can find better coverage, save money, or both. and check out the preventive benefits you get after the health care law. ♪ open enrollment ends december 7th. so now's the time. visit medicare.gov or call 1-800-medicare. good morning. topping the agenda, deal or no deal as geithner goes to the hill. treasury secretary tim geithner who is playing a critical role in the talks to broker a deal to put a floor under the fiscal cliff hanger will be on capitol hi